Yitzchak
Masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will laugh".
Name Census estimates that about 1,375 living Americans carry the first name Yitzchak. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yitzchak today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yitzchak births was 2022 (61 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yitzchak. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Yitzchak with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 249,276 Americans
Peak year
2022
61 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,516
Tracked since 1969
Census
Yitzchak in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 968 people with the first name Yitzchak, which placed it at #12,739 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#12,739
National first-name rank
People counted
968
968 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
96.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yitzchak
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yitzchak is White at 96.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.1%) and Two or More Races (1.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Yitzchak described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Yitzchak at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White96.1% · 930
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 20
- Two or more races1.4% · 14
- Black or African American0.4% · 4
Popularity
Yitzchak: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yitzchak from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 402 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Yitzchak remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yitzchak by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Yitzchak during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yitzchaks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, Maryland recorded the most babies named Yitzchak, while Maryland, New Jersey, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 325 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Yitzchak
The given name Yitzchak originates from the Hebrew language and culture, with roots dating back to ancient biblical times. It is derived from the Hebrew verb "tsachak," meaning "to laugh" or "to rejoice." The name is often associated with the biblical figure Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah, whose name in Hebrew is Yitzchak.
One of the earliest recorded appearances of the name Yitzchak can be found in the Book of Genesis, where it is mentioned as the name given to Isaac by his parents Abraham and Sarah. The biblical narrative describes how Sarah laughed in disbelief when told that she would bear a child in her old age, and the name Yitzchak was chosen to commemorate this laughter of joy.
Throughout Jewish history, the name Yitzchak has been widely used and has gained significant cultural and religious significance. Some notable individuals who bore this name include:
1. Yitzchak ben Yaakov Alfasi (1013-1103), a renowned Talmudic scholar and codifier of Jewish law from Algeria.
2. Yitzchak Luria (1534-1572), also known as the Arizal, a prominent Kabbalist and mystic from Safed, Palestine.
3. Yitzchak Abravanel (1437-1508), a Jewish philosopher, biblical commentator, and statesman who served as a finance minister in Portugal and Spain.
4. Yitzchak Baer (1888-1980), an influential Israeli historian and scholar of Jewish history and culture.
5. Yitzchak Rabin (1922-1995), an Israeli politician and military leader who served as the Prime Minister of Israel and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.
The name Yitzchak has transcended its biblical origins and has been embraced by various Jewish communities worldwide. Its enduring popularity can be attributed to its rich historical and cultural significance, as well as its association with the biblical figure Isaac, who is revered as a patriarch in both Judaism and Islam.
People
Yitzchak + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yitzchak as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Y
Other first names starting with Y with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Yitzchak: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yitzchak?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,375 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yitzchak going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 249,276 US residents.
Is Yitzchak a common name?
We classify Yitzchak as "Rare". It ranks above 92% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,399 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yitzchak most popular?
The single biggest year for Yitzchak was 2022, when 61 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yitzchak is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yitzchak in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 968 people with the name Yitzchak, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,739 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Yitzchak in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Yitzchak?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yitzchak appears almost entirely male. Of the 970 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Yitzchak?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yitzchak is White at 96.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.1%) and Two or More Races (1.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Yitzchak most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Yitzchak in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.1% (930 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Yitzchak in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yitzchak a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yitzchak in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Yitzchak still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yitzchak in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Yitzchak can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Yitzchak?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Yitzchak at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.